Story Notes: This story is mostly set in alt-dimension, although visits to the canon dimension do happen from time-to-time and more regularly during this chapter.
- Clark = Alt-Clark unless otherwise noted (such as when we are in the canon dimension, then 'Clark' is canon Clark)
- Lucy El = pregnant canon Lois avoiding the curse by hiding out with alt-Clark, aka alt-Lois's secret identity
- Kal = Lucy El's husband's name, or what Lois-Lucy and alt-Clark call canon Clark
- Lois = canon Lois (again); unless we're in canon dimension, then Lois could be referring to the substitute Lois borrowed from canon Lois's pre-amnesia time to fill in for canon Lois while she was in alt-dimension; or the ‘deceased’ wife of alt-Luthor
- Ultra Woman = originally the costume Lucy/Lois wore to Perry's 'Come as Your Favorite Superhero' party; now, alt-Lois
- Lara = the name Lois has chosen for her daughter (after Clark’s birth mother)
- Mr. Amazing = alt-Lois's nickname for Superman
- Wow Woman = alt-Clark/Superman's pet nickname for alt-Lois/Ultra Woman
- Sam Lane = alt-Lois's Dad, Lucy’s doctor & Clark’s roommate
- Mayor White = aka Perry White, former Editor-in-Chief at the DP
- James Olsen = owner of the
Daily Planet, Lois-Lucy's friend
- H.G. Wells – famed author – inventor of the Time-Machine – the man who brought canon Lois to alt-Clark
For a refresher on the last part:
Chapter 7: Part 12***
Part 13Clark watched Lois walk along the beach. After Ultra Woman and Mr. Wells left to take Lara back to her dimension, Lois had asked him to bring her back to the beach on Key West where they had spent her birthday. He sighed. It had been a crazy day. First Mr. Wells showing up out of the blue, then James and Lois being kidnapped by Vixen, and finally having to say goodbye to Lara.
He bet his heart was aching more than hers at the moment. At least Lois knew she would see her daughter again. It had been one of the hardest moments of his life. Clark had always known he would have to say goodbye to Lara, he just hoped… he shook his head. That hope had always been a pipe dream.
She turned around and waved for him to join her. It felt wrong to be out and about anonymously with Lois, especially when Ultra was out of the dimension. It was like he was cheating on his girlfriend. Perhaps it felt so wrong because in a small part of him, it felt right. He swallowed, jogging slowly to catch up, his shoes in his hand.
“Whenever I think of Key West, I’ll think of you,” Lois whispered, her voice still slightly hoarse from Lex’s muscle relaxant.
“Don’t,” Clark murmured, taking hold of her hand. “Please, Lois. I can’t.”
Despite the darkness, he easily saw her smile at him. “Think you’re all that and a glass of milk too, do you?”
Before he could think of what to say in response, Lois continued, “I meant your kindness on my birthday. When you wouldn’t let me stay in that funk I was in because I had been found guilty of murder. And that awful rendition of Happy Birthday you sang to me. I’ll treasure those memories.”
“Oh.” Clark grinned in embarrassment. Ooops. Open mouth, insert foot.
Lois stepped up close to him, almost chest to chest. “There’s something I need to give you.”
Clark swallowed. His heart was doing that flip-flop thing it did only for her. Before she could say another word, he dropped his shoes on the sand and pressed his lips to hers. “Lois,” he murmured, putting his arms around her. This felt right, kissing Lois again. He had missed her, body and soul.
Lois didn’t resist and even a part of her pulled him towards her. All those old feelings reared up again. How was he going to let her go? This woman who had invaded in his life and changed everything, who made everything worse. Who made everything better. Who had made him Superman. Who had made him a man. He would always want her, always desire her, always love her – she was a part of who he was. They were one. He lifted her up, pulling her hips towards his.
Then Lois stopped, slid out of his arms, and took a step back. “No.”
“You’re right. We shouldn’t go there again.” Clark was breathing faster than he should. He wanted her. He wanted so much to go back there again. His body craved hers. Oh, dear God, why hadn’t she gone home with her daughter?
Lois touched his face, gently. “We’ll always love each other, Clark. It’s fate.”
“Fatal,” he amended with a chuckle.
“Precisely.” Lois turned her face away from him, leaning against his shoulder, looking out to the ocean.
Clark wrapped his arms around her. It felt so good to hold her like this again. “You scared me this afternoon.”
“Just this afternoon?” She laughed softly and then she went quiet. “I had to save James.”
Clark sighed. “What are we going to do about him? Since he figured out that you were the original Ultra Woman, he’s going to put two and two together and…”
“Yeah. And he’s named me beneficiary to inherit the
Daily Planet if something happens to him. So, you’re going to have to protect him night and day, so he doesn’t die and make your girlfriend your boss.” Lois nudged him gently.
Clark rolled his eyes. “Great.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll convince him to change his will before I leave.”
“Thank you.”
Lois turned around to face him again.
Please, don’t kiss me, he thought.
I might not be able to stop.Kal’s wife took his hand and dropped something light into it. “Thank you for allowing me to be your wife, Clark. For protecting us.”
His mother’s wedding ring. Clark had forgotten he had given it to her. She was really going home. This was it, the last time they would be alone together. Would Clark ever see her again? Could he let her go?
“Lois has seen me wearing it, so when you do finally get around to marrying her, you should give her something new,” she recommended. “Something for her alone.”
He nodded, closing his hand around the ring. “Lois,” he murmured. There was so much Clark wanted to say. He knew this was it, their last private goodbye. “Lois.” He didn’t know how to put into words, what he was feeling inside.
Lois wrapped her arms around him. “Me, too.”
“If ever you need…” Clark held her tight against him.
“Best if you take me home, now, Clark. I should be in bed alone when your girlfriend gets home and so should you.”
Clark nodded, kissing her cheek. “Step back, Lois.” She did and he spun into his blue suit. Picking her up, they zipped into the sky.
***
Clark’s heart felt so empty; no Lara and shortly no Lois. He had dropped her off at the apartment. They hadn’t spoken another word, knowing there was nothing more to say. They had just stared at one another and then he had left.
He didn’t want to go back to Clinton Street; he headed instead to his Smallville house. The one place in his life where he had no memories of Lara or Lois. He went down into the basement and opened the safe, placing his mother’s ring inside, next to his father’s. The photos from Perry’s Halloween party were still there. He touched the envelope, tempted to take a look, but then he let go and closed the safe. No, he told himself for the last time. Lois belonged to Kal. There was someone else, whom he loved and desired more.
Throwing a couple logs into the fireplace in the living room, Clark zapped them with his heat vision and sat down on the sofa to wait. He hoped Ultra Woman returned from Kal’s dimension soon. He felt like holding someone. She was the one person who never made him feel alone. He watched the flames dance, bobbing to and fro, moving this way and that. A tear dripped down his cheek.
Clark loved that baby more than he thought he could ever love another person. He swallowed. Giving Lara up, returning her to her proper Dad, tugged at his soul. He would miss hearing her call to him, call to Daddy, actually. She had never understood Uncle Super. It hadn’t made sense to her. He had always been Daddy. She had known him since six weeks after she had been conceived.
Would she understand that these people who looked like the people she had lived with since birth, were her parents? Would she accept Kal as her father, even though his soul wasn’t quite the same as Clark’s? Kal would know the instant he met her who she was. Would Kal understand how Lara came to be? He was going to be confused, Clark was sure. If unexpectedly a baby arrived on his doorstep who could telepathically summon him… And who called him Daddy, it might freak him out… but that bond. Kal was sure to feel it. If Clark had felt it with Kal’s child, how strong must it be for Kal himself?
Someone was walking up the steps to the porch. Clark willed himself to his feet, staring at the door. Ultra was probably feeling nearly the same loss as him. She had practically raised Lara since birth, while Lois was off in her own little hell. Ultra opened the door. Flickering firelight lit parts of her face and body. They gazed at each other for a brief moment then suddenly, she was next to him.
“How did it go?”
“Hold me,” Ultra whispered.
Clark pulled her into his arms. Her cheeks were damp. He didn’t know if it was from the spring rains drenching the fields outside or from her tears, or both. He kissed her, mixing his tears with hers. She wrapped her arms around his neck. He picked her up and slowly carried her up the stairs.
“Don’t mind me,” Mr. Wells’ voice called from behind them.
Clark rolled his eyes. They weren’t alone.
“We’ve got a houseguest,” Ultra murmured, not letting go of him. “He’s going to stay here until Lois is returned home.”
Clark kissed her again, deeply, then set her down at the top of the stairs. “Why don’t you change out of your suit? Are you hungry?”
She shook her head.
“I’ll put him up in the room at the other end of the house. I don’t care what he thinks, but I am making love to you tonight and nobody is going to stop me.” Clark looked at her. “If that’s all right with you?”
Smiling sheepishly, Ultra whispered, “Thanks for asking.” She grabbed his head and pulled him to her in another deep kiss. “That’s more than I would have done.”
Clark walked down the stairs. “Mr. Wells. How did it go? No mishaps I hope.”
“Lois and Clark have their baby.” Wells smiled. “Now the real fun starts.”
Clark’s eyes widened. “Don’t tell me there’s more. I don’t think I could take more from those two…”
“I meant parenthood.”
“Oh.” Clark laughed. “Well, luckily he has his folks there to help him out.”
“Lois’s parents were there, too. Quite a big night for them all.” Mr. Wells rubbed his hands together. “I rather feel like some champagne.”
Clark closed his eyes.
Champagne?Love some. His Lois responded.
Be right down, unless you’ll be right up?He exhaled.
Houseguest. Clark opened his eyes. “I just have to go retrieve a bottle from the basement.”
A quickie?Lo-is!Just a suggestion. Clark could sense her smiling. The naughty minx.
The hero returned a moment later, blowing on a bottle of champagne his Lois and him had been saving for the big day Kal’s Lois returned to her dimension. Staring at the bottle, he said, “You know, Mr. Wells, I’m not sure I’m ready to celebrate, just yet. Not until Lois has made it home, safe and sound, and her stand-in is returned to her rightful spot in the timeline. That will be the right time for celebrating.”
Did you crush Lois’s gun or did you leave it on the dining room table? his Lois asked.
After speaking with your father about bringing a gun into the house of a deeply depressed woman and handing it to her for ‘protection,’ I crushed it.I love you, Clark.Wait there, I’ll be up soon. Champagne can wait until we’re alone, completely alone, dimensionally speaking.Wait until you see what I picked up in Paris last week.Clark swallowed, trying to focus on the man in front of him. He glanced up the stairs, unable to concentrate. He looked up.
No peeking!He grinned, glancing down at the bottle of Champagne in his hands. “I’m just going to put this in the fridge.” Zipping to the refrigerator, Clark was back moments later. He yawned. “I’m exhausted. It’s been a long day. Feel free to make yourself at home. The kitchen is that way. Let me show you to your room.” He started up the stairs.
“It has been quite a day.” Mr. Wells lowered his voice. “Clark, can you and Ultra Woman speak telepathically?”
“Sorry, that was rude. It’s just quicker. I forget I’m doing it sometimes.”
“No, no. Quite all right. Do you mind if I study your future this week? I am curious how your future will differ from my dimension’s.”
Clark raised a brow. “No interfering?”
“No, just as an observer.”
Clark paused on the stairs and turned back to Mr. Wells. “No hitchhikers?”
Wells raised his hands. “If I run into Tempus, I’ll keep my distance.”
“Good.” At the top of the stairs, Clark turned right and took Mr. Wells into the bedroom at the end of the hall. “The sheets are clean.” He tapped open a linen cabinet next to the bedroom door and pulled out a set of towels. “Here. The bathroom is down at the end of the hall on the other side of the stairs. We’ll leave the nightlight on for you.”
“You are quite generous, Clark. Thank you.” Mr. Wells nodded and entered the bedroom, shutting the door behind him.
Clark sighed and a moment later was opening his and Ultra’s bedroom door. His breath caught in his throat. “Wow! You look…” He shut and locked the door behind him, before taking her into his arms and making love, slow and gentle and silent and all night long.
***
Lois took one long last walk around her old apartment. She had said goodbye to Perry and had accidentally cracked the Elvis CD he had given her. Accidentally, on purpose.
She had cleared the air with James. After hearing about the gun-toting mama who had rescued him from the Luthors, he decided Lois might be a little too unstable to own the
Daily Planet. She convinced him that Perry White would be a better heir than her. Lois tried to get him to understand that she was just an ordinary human woman. She could bleed and it was impossible for her to fly. But he hadn’t bought it. He knew what he knew about the Ultra Woman at Perry’s Superhero party and she couldn’t change his mind. Eventually she had just given up and had told him never to share his insights with anyone else. James had agreed as it was her marriage and Superman’s reputation on the line. Gossip was not always newsworthy, Lois had told him.
Her flower print suitcase was packed. Lois was leaving with only the items she had brought – the photos, a few outfits, and the framed pictures. She had left the notebooks with her letters to her husband in a bag with the photo album of pregnancy memories that James had made her. In the same bag were the crazy t-shirts that Clark’s Lois had given them at Christmas as well as the fragments of the Elvis CD Perry had given her. She had asked the new Lucy El to get rid of them for her. Clark’s girlfriend understood that Lois never wanted to reveal to her husband what had happened during this year in Clark’s dimension, even though she had promised to Clark she would… with some glaring omissions. Lois just wanted to forget it and move on with her life. Perhaps, someday, when all the old wounds had healed, she would tell her husband. But some wounds never heal.
Lois wanted to slip seamlessly into her old life, like she had never been gone and just move forward. Be the best adopted mother she could be to her actual daughter Lara. Be the best and most loyal wife she could be to her husband. Lois never wanted to think about what happened during the year she spent in this other dimension.
Turning to Sam, she held him tightly for a solid minute. “I’m going to miss you most, Scarecrow. Thank you for being my family and helping me find my brain and bringing my daughter into this world. There is no way I’ll ever be able to repay the debt I owe you,” she whispered, kissing his cheek. “I love you, Daddy.”
Sam sniffled. “You already repaid me tenfold by helping Clark find my daughter, for giving her back her sight, and for believing in me when no one else would. I love you, too, sweetie. Take care of yourself and that beautiful daughter of yours.”
Lois took a deep breath and hugged her double in lavender tights. “Thank you, Ultra Woman, for saving my life on countless occasions, despite me not giving you any reason to like me. And for not killing me for creating the most annoying secret identity of all time.” Lois smiled, weakly, then bit her lip. “Take care of Clark. There’s a frightened little boy inside that big strong man, who needs you and loves you more than anyone else in his entire life. Anyone.” A tear dripped down her cheek. “And thank you for being a good Mom to Lara when I couldn’t.” She swallowed and wiped the tears off her face, but they kept rolling down.
“Forgive yourself, Lois. You’ve had a hard year even during trying times. You have been a good friend and confidante to Clark.” Ultra Woman pressed her lips together. “And even to me, on occasion, even when I didn’t deserve it. And, no, I will never forgive you for creating such an awful secret identity.” Ultra rolled her eyes. “Vegetarian, alcoholic, myopic, unstylish cow in clogs. Clogs, for God’s sake, Lois.” Clark’s girlfriend smiled, pulling off her mask and wiping her tears. “But Lucy El and Ultra Woman gave me an out from an even more horrible life, so I thank you for that. Thank you for letting me mother Lara, even when you could. We will always love her as if she were our own. Always.”
“You’ll be a mother again. I don’t know why Clark is being so stubborn in believing Dr. Klein’s first analysis of the data. You have more of a chance of conceiving then I ever did and look what happened to me.”
“Part of him is scared of becoming a father; it’s lots of responsibility to be in charge of a whole person. In a year or two, when he’s a little more comfortable in his dual life and mine, he’ll be ready to believe.” Ultra Woman nodded with a wink. “We know the truth.”
Lois hugged her again. “If you ever need Kal’s help, don’t hesitate to call on us. I’m pretty good at twisting his arm.” She swallowed and attempted to wipe her face again. “Okay. Go ahead and call Clark and tell him and Mr. Wells I’m ready to go home.”
Ultra Woman closed her eyes. Half a minute later the time machine arrived with H.G. Wells and Superman into their living room. Lois picked up her suitcase and stepped onto the time machine. She waved goodbye to Sam and Ultra Woman.
“Meet me at the Fortress of Solitude when you return,” Ultra Woman called to her boyfriend.
Lois sat down in Clark’s lap. “Where is that, exactly? You never did tell me.”
Clark chuckled and blew a kiss to his girlfriend as Mr. Wells turned a couple of knobs and pulled the lever. Lois, Clark, and Mr. Wells felt like they were dipped in Jello and then they disappeared.
*** The End of Chapter 7 ****** End of Season 5 ***Season 6 will begin with Chapter 8 – The Twilight Zone – Revisited***
Please check out my author notes on my FDK /
Comments page regarding what I mean by "Season". Thank you.
Chapter 8: Part 1/10
